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Possible carjacking kills mother of 3 in Omaha

August 22, 2013

Andrea Kruger, a 33-year-old wife and mother of three, was found shot to death in an Omaha intersection at about 2:15 AM Wednesday morning. Andrea had been leaving the Deja Vu Lounge, where she was a bartender three nights a week, when she was shot and killed in an apparent carjacking. She had been shot multiple times. Her vehicle, a gold Chevy Traverse, was found Wednesday evening, in an alley about five blocks away.

Michael-Ryan Kruger, Andrea’s husband, said that he and Andrea had been texting the night of her death, and that she normally came home around 3 AM on the nights she worked at Deja Vu Lounge. When he woke up later that night and she still wasn’t home, he became concerned. He saw on the news that the body of a woman had been found, along the route that Andrea would have taken to get home. He got in his car and was met by sheriff’s deputies a block from his home.

Michael-Ryan was interviewed for two hours and released. Authorities say he has been cleared as a suspect.

In reading about this case, I found an article from Omaha.com where Michael-Ryan talks about how the police had gone through Andrea’s cell phone:

“All she had were a couple of calls between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. from some regulars at the bar,” Kruger said.

This stands out to me, because is it a normal thing for regulars from the bar to be calling her late at night, even up until 6 AM? It could be perfectly harmless, but definitely worth looking into. I’m also wondering if the car had any damage to it, or was anything stolen from it? If it was a carjacking, why was the car ditched just a few blocks away?

Hopefully this case will be solved soon. My heart goes out to Michael-Ryan and their three children.

UPDATE: 8/23 7:30 AM

Investigators are saying someone made an attempt to destroy Andrea’s car. Someone had poured gasoline inside the car and lit it, but the fire fizzled out.

UPDATE: 8/30 7:40 AM

Omaha.com is reporting that police are questioning a man in custody about his involvement in Andrea’s death. The man is currently being held on unrelated charges of making terroristic threats, but he is allegedly also being questioned about at least two other shootings that occurred in Omaha over the last month. And get this – He just got out of prison last month after serving a nine year sentence for robbery. You can read more at the link below.